NHS meetings are normally attended by just a handful of residents, so health bosses were delighted that well over 100 people turned out for the annual general meeting of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

There was also a ‘celebration event’ before the meeting at Burnley Football Club, with dozens of nurses and health professionals on hand to showcase the trust’s services.

The meeting also gave people a chance to meet the trust’s new chief executive, Kevin McGee, who was asked about his plans to improve the troubled hospitals.

He said: “I don’t yet have all the answers, and I may never have them. But what I’ve got to do is listen and take all the views into account.

“I would like to be here for many, many years to come and my ambition is to have the best services possible, which are joined up and to have other people try to emulate what we do because we do it right.”

Trust chairman Eileen Fairhurst said: “It’s absolutely fantastic to see so many people here.”